The Painting
by LeonardKnight
Summary: Private borrows a painting from Marlene, but he soon discovers that the painting he eagerly borrowed is cursed.
1. Borrowing the Painting

"Would you like to borrow the painting Private?" asked Marlene

When Private heard those words, the penguin ecstatically said yes, he took the painting from the wall hanging in Marlene's habitat. For Private the penguin, opportunities like those were hard to find and he wasted no time in getting his hands on the prized portrait.

"This," Marlene said with a smile "was a gift from a friend. I've forgotten all about it until I found it in one of my storage boxes the other day. I've never been fond of paintings but since this was a gift from a friend years ago, how could I resist not having it."

"Ooooh, I would definitely like to borrow it Marlene, thanks" said Private, holding the portrait in his flippers.

"Oh here, let me wrap it before you take it to the HQ, remember Private I want the painting intact when you return it. Okay?" asked the Otter, warning the penguin to take care of it properly.

"No problem Marlene, I promise I'll return it the next morning" promised Private. It was easy for him to keep his word because he was never a promise breaker, he would always keep his word down to the last punctuation mark.

After thanking his friend, Private went straight home to the HQ. He unwrapped the painting and hung it on the wall near the bunks. Skipper, Rico and Kowalski had just returned from a completed mission—unclogging massive simian hair in the drainage system again. They noticed Private trying to hang a portrait on the wall and ask him questions.

"What you got there young Private?" asked Skipper with a friendly smile. The leader was becoming intrigued by the hanging portrait.

"Oh hello Skipper, it's a painting. I got it from Marlene's wall" replied Private

"Private you know how I feel about unwanted decorations in the HQ, this is unauthorized. Take it down now and return it back to Marlene. That picture doesn't belong here." Said Skipper, ordering Private to return the portrait immediately.

"But Skipper this is a rare opportunity for me, I don't get to see this kind of portrait very often. Besides it's just for a day, I'll return it to Marlene tomorrow. Please Skipper, can it stay here for just one day" said Private, desperately pleading to Skipper to let it stay in their habitat for just one day. Private was glaring at Skipper with his puppy sad eyes just to make him say yes.

"Alright Private you got my attention, I'll let stay in the HQ for now. But promise me you'll return it back tomorrow morning. Understand soldier?"

"Yay" Private lightly clapped his hands in utter excitement. "I won't let you down sir; I'll give it back to Marlene the next day, thanks Skipper"

Eyeing the portrait, Skipper orders Kowalski to examine it very closely. It usually takes a few minutes for Kowalski to explain the portrait's artistic design to the whole group. "Kowalski analysis, what can you make of this portrait?" Kowalski gave a dead silent response.

"Well Kowalski, do you have something to say about the painting?" asks Skipper.

"Well from what I can conclude, generally I can say that the painting depicts a scene of a typical seemingly normal festival, nothing unusual from what I can see besides the humans painted here." says Kowalski.

"Hmmm, interesting observation Kowalski" replied Skipper.

The painting depicts a scene of a festival. Colourful streamers were hanging all around, a large wooden table filled with sumptuous meals amidst the folks celebrating. In one corner, some couples were dancing to the beat of the acapella singers. The children were trying their luck at the games being held. Overhead, the setting sun gave the painting an overall feeling of flushed excitement.

The faces in the portrait were full of joy except for one. The man's face was gaunt and he looked more at home at a funeral than a fiesta. He wore a dark brown jacket, which made him stand out amongst the crowd. Private thought it was strange that such a dreary man was included in the painting.

Suddenly, the television in the penguin's habitat turned on by itself. Out of fear, Private hid behind Skipper and peered out slowly from behind Skipper's shoulders examining the television at a safe distance. Private's thoughts of the strange man in the portrait vanished from his mind.

"Sweet mother of mayhem, who turned on the television? Anybody? Rico? Kowalski? Private?" asked Skipper.

They all answered the same thing—each penguin gave definite response, No.

All were in denial of saying it; in fact no one was near the television, they were all too occupied looking at the painting. "Would someone please shut down the telly" said Private, now trembling in fear. Skipper immediately orders Rico to turn it off.

Rico regurgitates the remote and tries to turn off T.V. But to this dismay, the television was just resistant to being turned off, no matter how hard Rico presses the off button; the T.V. was still turned on. Someone or something is trying to prevent the telly from shutting down. Rico babbled to Skipper that the telly can't be turned off via remote. So Skipper turns to Kowalski for options.

"Kowalski any suggestions to turn off the T.V?" asked Skipper.

"I suggest you pull the plug from the socket, that way you can be sure it will be turned off Rico" says Kowalski.

Rico follows Kowalski's suggestion to pull the plug. But as soon he grabbed it; Rico makes a startling discovery that it isn't connected to the television at all. He was becoming confused as to how the television turned on by itself despite the fact that the plug is not connected to the socket.

"Blarrgh, aballarblurgh" mumbled Rico, telling Skipper that the T.V. is already disconnected but still has not turned off.

"What? Are you sure Rico? How is that even possible" said Skipper, almost not believing what Rico had just blabbed.

"Maybe the telly's cursed Skipper" said Private as his fear intensified.

But Kowalski, being a man of science, dismisses the idea that inanimate objects such as the television are incapable of being possessed and are less likely to be invaded by a ghost.

"Don't be ridiculous Private, technically it's impossible that the television can be possessed with some unexplained source. There is simply a logical explanation as to why it turned on by itself." Said Kowalski "I'm sure the television is just fine."

"Well I guess, but that certainly doesn't explain how the telly powered itself without electricity" said Private

"Oh Young Private, you don't need to worry, I'm sure Kowalski could solve that mystery. Besides the television could have been damaged from too much use. I assure you my word, no ghosts"

"Oh, ok Skipper" said Private "But I still believe it was a ghost" muttered to himself in a low voice.

"Kowalski how soon can you fix the television?" asked Skipper

"By my calculations, it could be days. Oh my mistake, I forgot to carry the five, it could be a week— from now" said Kowalski

"Ok, ok, so that means no television for a week. In the meantime, we have to find some other hobbies we can do while the T.V. is in the repairing stages. Alright men, time for bed, it's getting late. Said Skipper

Rico, Skipper and Kowalski all prepared for bed except for Private who stood motionless, still glaring at the strange man who wore a dark brown jacket.

"Private, time for bed soldier" called out Skipper to the youngest soldier.

"Oh sorry Skipper, I was just taking a last look at the picture" said Private.

"Well hurry up soldier, we have training tomorrow morning. And you need to wake up early to return the portrait to Marlene. Remember, the early bird catches the worm" said Skipper

"Right Skipper" said Private as he waddled to his bunk and went to sleep.

"Lights out everyone" commanded the leader, after a few minutes they all fell asleep simultaneously in their individual bunks.

That night, Private had a strange dream...


	2. Run, Private, Run

Private dreamt that he was in a small village attending a festival.

"Wh-, where am I, what am I even doing here?" the penguin was trembling in fear because he did not know where he ended up. He roamed around the small village but found no living soul in sight, it's as if the place had already been abandoned. After tirelessly searching the lifeless area, he noticed a table right in front of him.

While he approached the table laden with food, he saw a shadowy figure dressed in a blue, faded jacket walking away, heading for the nearby woods. It was then he realized that the place he was in right now is the same place that was depicted in the picture earlier. But Private's sharp memory and keen senses told him that there was a difference between the painting and his dream. For one, it was not a man he had seen but more of a dark silhouette that can barely recognize, plus the height of the shadow is almost similar to Kowalski's height, making it more of an animal than man. And two, it wore a blue, faded jacket not brown. "This is all very confusing to me, is this some sort of premonition? A warning of an impending danger? Oh I hope this is just a nightmare, I don't think I can take much more of this" said Private.

With the figure almost disappearing from sight, Private had an uncontrollable impulse to follow it. "Hey wait a sec, who are you? Can you tell me what I'm doing here please?" said Private, shouting at the mysterious shadow. But it stayed silent; the penguin's questions all went unanswered. "Oh dear, where is this guy going?" he said, already panting from exhaustion.

Without stopping, he trudged the rocky path for hours. His feet began to hurt. By now, he was already pretty far from the village and he finds himself in the middle of nowhere, just trailing the mysterious figure from behind. There was nothing else to be seen than the trees that stood tall, making creepy whistling noises as it sways back and forth. As they went even deeper inside the woods, the wind intensified, to the point that it almost blew away young Private. But, he held strong and rooted his feet firmly to the ground. "Not even this strong gust of wind can stop me, I'll keep going no matter what." said a determined Private.

The figure kept walking until it reached a clearing. Locating a bush, Private decides to hide in it to conceal himself and to observe the shadow from a safe distance. "This bush is a great place to conceal myself, I'm sure he won't notice me here." The penguin noticed that there was a woman sitting under a tree, asleep. It wasn't just any woman he noticed sleeping, it was a female otter, an Asian Otter. It was Marlene.

The figure made no sound and quietly approached the sleeping otter. It was this that the figure revealed itself as an otter too, but this one was a complete opposite of Marlene because it was a male otter. It had a bulky, masculine appearance, and is almost as tall as Kowalski's height. "Maybe I'm seeing Marlene's future date" muttered to himself in a low soft tone. The fearful face from the penguin almost faded away. Until...

Sensing that there was someone beside Marlene, she woke up immediately. The bulky male otter quickly grabbed her hands and tried to kiss her. "Ah help anyone, help. Oh please can anyone help me please" screamed Marlene in desperation, hoping someone will come to her rescue. She struggled to shoo the male otter away from his tight grasp. And by doing so, the male otter's grip tightened, almost crushing her delicate waist. "Aaaagh, help" she screamed. As her struggles intensified, the bulky otter slapped her so hard that her head hit the tree trunk.

"Kiss me beautiful, hahaha" said the male otter, giving a loud maniacal laugh.

"No, get away from me you freak" screamed the otter.

Private grimaced with fear as he could see that the otter was screaming out so loud, but no one could hear her. The otter herself could not hear anything except the sounds the trees make, because they were deep in the woods, all alone.

"Oh dear, oh dear, what am I gonna do, I can't go out there and save Marlene, not even I could take down an otter that big"

Pressing both of his flippers beside his head, he ran around in circles, panicking. He did not know what else to do at this point—other than think of a way to save Marlene from his evil clutches. He didn´t know what to do. Should he run away and leave Marlene alone with him, but that was no choice for him. He fought back against his fear.

"I've got to do this now before it's too late" Private couldn't stand to watch this any longer. He stepped out from behind the bushes and showed himself to the otter. He wants to help Marlene and took a few steps towards the otter. "Hey! Over here you big meanie, leave Marlene alone, you don't want her, you want me" shouted Private to the male otter. Unfortunately, he was intently focusing more on Marlene.

"It's not working; he's too focused on Marlene. I need some other way to attract his attention"

He notices a small rock lying on the ground and an idea hatches in his mind. "That's it" he said. He crouched down and grabs small pieces of rock. "If this won't get his attention, nothing will". He throws the small rock in the male otter's direction. The first one was unsuccessful as it misses him by an inch. The second one hits, but fails to get his attention. "This the last one, the third time's the charm"

At last the third rock is a hit, as finally gets his attention."Yes, I finally did it, Marlene is saved, Yay" clapping his flippers in an uttermost excitement manner.

The bulky otter drops an unconscious Marlene. He leaves her to the ground with sudden silence— as she experiences heavy breathing. "I'll be back beautiful"

He turns around to face Private. "Oh dear, that means he's after me now. I better get going before he finishes me off". The otter jumped towards Private like lightning. With his strength he threw the little penguin to the side. Private had managed to avoid any incoming attacks and started running through the trees, the dark path made it harder for him to see where he was going. The otter followed him from behind. He knew that he had no chance to outrun him, so he hid behind the tree, still trembling. "I think I lost him"

He quickly notices that the otter was in the tree above where he was hiding. "Then again, maybe not." The chase continues until Private reaches a channel of water leading to a waterfall. He was thoroughly trapped, he can't even swim to safety because the current is too strong for him and if he did swim, it would only lead him to plunge off the edge of the waterfall and into the jagged rocks below.

The otter caught up to him and was now wielding a small pocket knife. "Please don't hurt me, we can talk about this" said a desperate Private. He was on his knees, begging the otter to spare his fragile life.

The male otter took no pity and grabbed him by the neck and started choking him. Horrified, Private began to scream for help. As the otter was about to ram the knife into Private's chest, he woke up in his bunk. He was sweating and shivering when he awoke from his nightmare. "It was only a dream, thank goodness it was only a dream" said a relieved Private.

"Oh natures calling me, I think I need to go to the bathroom"

Afraid of going through the dark corners of the room without some light, he taps Rico lightly on the shoulders for a flashlight and immediately hands him one. "Thanks Rico". He then goes back to sleep. After using the toilet, Private comes out and goes back to his bunk to go get some shut eye. Suddenly he hears voices chanting his name.

"Private, Private, Private"

They were calling him in a low, soft voice. It was a mixture of a man and a woman's voice; they were all calling his name simultaneously.

"Who, who's there?" he trembled in fear as he tried to find the source of voice. He turned on his flashlight he was holding and stared at the empty table. What he saw made him scream. The male otter in his dream was standing next to the table, beside the dead a capella singers, his jacket was drenched in blood; another difference from this one in the painting is that they are all otters, not humans.

Private is seeing dead a capella otter singers this time. And standing amidst the crowd is Marlene. This was different however, as Marlene was all drenched in blood, her right eye sliced-open. She called out to Private. "Private, come join us, you know you want to" One after another, they all started to chant "Join us Private"

"No I'm not like you, and I'm not going join your evil army" said Private. He pressed his flippers hard on his head so as make them go away. He fell on his knees. But as he did it just got worse, the voices in his head started to make him feel dizzy, it was jamming his mind. "No, get out of my head, all of you"

It was then that someone woke him up from his real nightmare.

"Soldier wake up, wake up soldier"

To be continued...


End file.
